Alternative Medicine

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Fact:Eye exercises will not improve or preserve vision or reduce the need for glasses. Your vision depends on many factors, including the shape of your eyeball and the health of the eye tissues, neither of which can be significantly altered with eye exercises.
As the eyes age, problems with vision become more common. Learn how to recognize the risk factors and symptoms of specific eye diseases— cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy — and what steps one can take to prevent or treat them before your vision deteriorates.

Myth: Reading in dim light will worsen our vision.

Fact: Dim lighting will not damage our eyesight. However, it will tire our eyes out more quickly. The best way to position a reading light is to have it shine directly onto the page, not over the shoulder. A desk lamp with an opaque shade pointing directly at the reading material is ideal.

Myth: Carrots are the best food for the eyes.

Fact: Carrots, which contain vitamin A, are indeed good for the eyes. But fresh fruits and dark green leafy vegetables, which contain more antioxidant vitamins such as C and E, are even better. Antioxidants may even help protect the eyes against cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Just don’t expect them to prevent or correct basic vision problems such as nearsightedness or farsightedness.

Myth: It’s best not to wear glasses or contact lenses all the time. Taking a break from them allows our eyes to rest.

Fact: If we need glasses or contacts for distance vision or reading, we should use them. Not wearing glasses will strain our eyes and tire them out instead of resting them. However, it will not worsen our vision or lead to eye disease.

Myth: Staring at a computer screen all day is bad for the eyes.

Fact: Using a computer does not damage our eyes. However, staring at a computer screen all day can contribute to eyestrain or tired eyes. People who stare at a computer screen for long periods tend not to blink as often as usual, which can cause the eyes to feel dry and uncomfortable. To help prevent eyestrain, we should adjust the lighting so it doesn’t create a glare or harsh reflection on the screen, it is advised to rest the eyes briefly every 20 minutes, and make a conscious effort to blink regularly so that our eyes stay well lubricated.

It can be a frightening moment. When the doctor diagnoses an eye disease such as glaucoma, cataract, or AMD, we immediately worry about losing our sight or becoming seriously vision-impaired.

It’s important to know what to do not only when disease strikes, but what to do before and after. We should know the warning signs and how a diagnosis is made. And the best treatment options for that.

The good news is, with the proper treatment decisions, those eye diseases can be addressed and controlled and their potential to compromise our sight can be halted.

Our eyes do change as we get older. That’s a truth we can do little about. It’s the consequences we can change.We we should learn all the facts about treating adult eye diseases.

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Michelle Haber, a molecular and cellular biologist in Australia, said laboratory trials with mice genetically programmed to develop neuroblastoma — a solid tumour that spreads rapidly through the body — showed the drug, DFMO, delayed the development of tumours or prevented them forming in the first place.

By combining DFMO with conventional anti-cancer drugs such as cisplatin, that was then used to treat mice with neuroblastoma, the tumours were reduced, took longer to return and some tumours never came back, according to a report published in The Australian.

“If the trial was opened now, I’d unhesitantly look at enrolling patients in it,” Dalla-Pozza said.

While roughly 75 per cent of children diagnosed with other cancers survive, only 50 per cent of those diagnosed with neuroblastoma survive. Two-thirds of youngsters get an aggressive form of neuroblastoma that kills more than 80 per cent of them within a year.

DefinitionBenign prostatic hyperplasia(BPH) is non-malignant enlargement of the prostate. The prostate is a walnut-sized gland located at the neck of the bladder surrounding the urethra. It is part of the male reproductive system.

BPH is the most common benign neoplasm (non cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland) in men, and has a high prevalence that increases with age. The increase in size of the prostate inside its capsule exerts pressure on the urethra, which passes through the capsule, resulting in obstruction to urine flow.

Half of all men have BPH identifiable histologically at age 60 years, and by 85 years the prevalence is about 90%. In the USA about 25% of men will be treated for BPH by age 80, and over 300,000 surgical procedures are performed each year for BPH (mostly transurethral resection of the prostate, TURP). This makes TURP the second most common surgical procedure, second only to cataract surgery – at a cost estimated at $2 billion per year.

Causes
The exact cause of BPH is unknown. It may be related to changes in hormone levels as men age. These changes probably cause the prostate to grow. Eventually, the prostate becomes so enlarged that it puts pressure on the urethra. This causes the urethra to narrow or, in some cases, close completely.

Symptoms:

There are several symptoms of BPH. Symptoms usually increase in severity over time.But most common symptoms are :-

Diagnosis:
Although there are a number of diagnostic test procedures which can be used for BPH, urine flow rate recording is the single best non invasive urodynamic test to detect lower urinary tract obstruction. There is insufficient evidence to recommend a cut-off value to document appropriateness of therapy.

The most common tests sre:
Urine flow study
Cystometrogram (a functional study of the way your bladder fills and empties)
X-ray of the urinary tract
Cystoscopic examination
Transrectal ultrasound

Testing for prostate specific antigen (PSA) is often used to screen for prostate cancer, a malignant condition. However BPH, which is far more common, may cause a lesser elevation in PSA levels, which may raise false concerns about the presence of cancer.

Treatment:
There are a number of treatment options. These include watchful waiting, medical therapy, balloon dilatation and various surgical procedures. But In mild cases of BPH, no treatment is necessary. In many cases, men with BPH eventually request medical intervention.

Modern Medications include:

Finasteride (proscar) inhibits the production of the specific form of testosterone which is responsible for prostate glandular growth. (In some men, finasteride can shrink the prostate.)
Dutasteride (avodart) also inhibits the production of the specific form of testosterone which is responsible for prostate glandular growth. Like proscar, avodart can result in shrinking of the prostateAlpha-blockers (flomax, uroxatral, cardura, terazosin) reduce bladder obstruction and improve urine flow by relaxing the muscles of the prostate and bladder neck.

Men with BPH should not take decongestant drugs containing alpha agonists such as pseudoephedrine. These drugs can worsen the symptoms of BPH.

Minimally Invasive Interventions
These are used when drugs are ineffective but the patient is not ready for surgery. Non-surgical treatments include:

Open Surgery â€“ removal of the enlarged portion of the prostate through an incision, usually in the lower abdominal area. This is much more invasive then TURP or TUIP.

To these surgical options must be added a number of medical treatments currently under trial. The AHCPR report concluded that there was presently insufficient data on any of these to permit conclusions regarding their safety and efficacy. The new treatments should not form part of purchasing contracts until one year follow up data from properly conducted randomised controlled trials are available.

Alternative Treatments:
Preliminary clinical trials suggested positive results with saw palmetto, an herb native to the Southern United States. However recent studies, particularly a carefully conducted randomized double-blind study indicate that the use of saw palmetto is no different than placebo in reducing BPH symptoms, raising questions about the true clinical effectiveness of this product.

Prevention
Because prostate enlargement occurs naturally with advancing age, there are no specific prevention guidelines.

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.

Help taken from: http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=12003 and http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band11/b11-3.htm